Superliminal (2019)

Superliminal has this interesting concept of solving puzzles in a dream-state, where 'perception is reality'. It makes all sorts of rule-bending possible: resizing objects by changing perspective, being tricked by 2D drawings of 3D objects, falling into infinite corridors, and various other sorts of madness.

It differs from other puzzle games in a sense that each level/obstacle is a unique set-piece to get through, and you don't re-use many concepts. That is, the game is mechanically the same for the most part, while some tricks drop in and out. This makes for an interesting playthrough the first time, where you face and solve a variety of challenges, but it lacks a certain cohesion that pulls all of its elements together.

The bare-bones story and the minimal soundtrack are not particularly memorable. And given that the game's appeal lies in the novelty of each new level, a second playthrough doesn't make much sense. But if you do want to go for a second run, there is a challenge mode and a speedrun mode available.

If the idea of a mind-bending, reality-warping puzzler appeals to you, please do give Superliminal a shot.

Personal note: I got a mild headache each time I played this game, usually after 30 minutes or so of gameplay. It's really a mind-screw in that way, and it makes sense because the mechanics bend reality in some unconventional ways. The last two levels also feature swirling patterns and flashing lights. If any of these make you uncomfortable, please approach with caution.

This is certainly one of the most unique puzzle games I have ever played. Superliminal features a gameplay loop centred around solving an array of optical illusions, forced perspective and object manipulation segments, always encouraging you to think outside the box in order to shift your perspective and find the right solution. The physics are incredible, and I am still not sure how it was possible, from a technical point of view, to pull off some of the things I’ve seen in this game. You can make objects tiny or massive on a whim, clone some them to an absurd extent, and navigate through your surroundings in somewhat of a Portal-like manner that makes the whole of your - short - journey truly engaging. All of this comes backed by a soothing soundtrack, a captivating visual world and a pretty interesting backdrop story, which fittingly mixes the real with the surreal, always pressing on the player how perception highly impacts interpretation of these two polar opposites.

The narrative thread is quite intriguing, as it tends to keep you on your toes while you try to make sense of what’s going on, often making you jump through relaxing hoops, at times through somewhat sinister ones, but always rooted in dreamlike scenarios. In the end, the entire game serves as a medium to deliver a very simple yet beautiful message, shared not through words but through your in-game, need driven puzzle-solving actions.

Not all puzzles land, though: for the sake of variety, the same object rules don’t apply in every instance, which seems a bit unfair and can feel a tad frustrating; some puzzles are fantastic and either very logical or very intuitive, others no so much; and the ambitious physics implementation seriously puts the system through its paces, often resulting in heavy frame rate drops which are a bit of a nuisance.

The game has such a short runtime, however, that none of these problems are ever enough to make you feel too frustrated. For someone who isn’t naturally inclined to play these types of games, I must say I had a really good time. It was a pretty original world to spend my last gaming hours of 2022, and an experience that I can easily recommend to most players. 8/10

This game is about 3h long.

Two of those hours will be spent solving forced perspective puzzles that range from good to great to "I don't get it"; most of the puzzles have 1-3 stages of progression on an idea.

(very subjective) The last of those hours will be spent pushing the walking forward button ignoring all the visuals around you, while some deepity is being recited as background noise.

Superliminal is a bite-size portal-like which starts strong with a clever mechanic. Perspective is everything so you can pick up objects and when you let them go they become larger or smaller depending on where you put them in respect to the rest of the world. This and other related mechanics are used in inventive ways to build nice little puzzles with many enjoyable "eureka moments".

All through the first half I was immensely impressed and was exited to be playing what felt like a new Portal. But, of course there is a but.

It all comes down terribly in the latter half of the game. The interesting puzzles are thrown out the window and the game morphs into a cheap waking simulator with the most obnoxious narration. I was rolling my eyes all through the end and the pretentious narrator made me literally groan in disgust. Oh, and there's also some audio-only puzzles that would be impossible to solve or understand for people playing on mute or the hearing impaired.

It's sad to see such a clever mechanic handled so badly, but there you are.